Vol. 15 · pages 186–190

SECTION III TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES 17. Dentists (Amendment) Bill 171-181 18. Resolution Re-making of Laws by Parliament in State List ... 182-183 19. Administration of Evacuee Property (Amendment) Bill ... 184-187 20. Qualifications for Elections to Parliament and Legislature of States ... 188-192 21. Coach-Behar (Assimilation of Laws) Bill ... 193-194 22. Indian Tariff (Fourth Amendment) Bill ... 195-200 23. Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill ... 201-204 24. Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 205-248 25. Demand No. 13—Ministry of Law ... 249-250

* P. D. Vol. 4, Part II, 11th August 1950, pp. 841-43 (17) * DENTISTS (AMENDMENT) BILL. The Minister of Law (Dr. Ambedkar): If the Hon. the Health Minister is ill, I am asked to take charge of this Bill and I, therefore, beg to move: “That the Bill to amend the Dentists Act, 1948, be taken into consideration.” The Bill is a very short one and it does not involve any controversial matters. The Dentists Act of 1948 came into force on the 29th of March 1948. It was made applicable to Part A, Part C and Part D States. Under Section 49 of that Act, it is provided that no person shall be entitled to practise dentistry after the 28th March 1950 unless his name appears on a register of dentists which the Act required should be prepared in accordance with the rules contained therein. It was hoped that that register would be ready by the 28th of March 1950. Consequently, the operative portions of this Act were so framed to come into operation on the 28th March 1950. Unfortunately, this expectation has not been fulfilled. It was roported from various States that the register would not be ready by the 28th March 1950 and consequently it became necessary to extend the period by one year in order to enable the States concerned to prepare the register. As the Parliament was not then sitting, Government issued an Ordinance giving effect to the necessary provision extending the period up to the 28th March 1951. This Bill is intended to convert the Ordinance into law. The main provision therefore, is to extend the period for the purpose of preparing the register. Advantage has been taken of the present occasion to amend the law in order to remove some of the difficulties which have been felt in giving effect to the original Act. Firstly, the

172 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES original Act contained two provisions. One provision was not to allow any person who was not placed on the register to be employed in Government hospitals. Obviously, it was expected that this provision would become operative after the registers were ready. As the registers are not ready, persons who have not been placed on the register by reason—not of their not being qualified, but of the register not being ready—would become disabled from holding any office in Government hospitals. Therefore, it has become necessary to extend the period and permit such persons to hold office notwithstanding the fact that they are not placed on the register. Secondly, there is a Dental School in Bengal which used to grant Diplomas in Dentistry. At the time when the Act was passed there was a controversy as to whether the diplomas granted by this Dental School of Bengal should be recognised to enable persons holding the diploma to be placed on the register. It was felt that the diplomas granted by the Dental School of Bengal were not sufficiently qualified to place them on the register. There has been considerable agitation by persons holding the diploma granted by the Dental School of Bengal that this disability should be removed. A compromise has been suggested by the Government of West Bengal according to which persons who have received their diploma before the year 1940, subject to certain conditions, may be treated as persons qualified to be entered upon the register. That compromise is also given a place in this Bill. The Bill, therefore, contains three provisions : (1) to extend the period (2) to permit names of persons holding diplomas of the Dental School of Bengal in certain circumstances to be place on the Register and (3) to continue the employment of unregistered dentists in the Government hospitals till 1951 until the register is prepared. This is all that the Bill contains and I hope that the House will not find any difficulty in giving its assent to the Bill Mr. Speaker : Motion moved : “That the Bill to amend the Dentists Act, 1948, be taken into consideration.”

173PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES * P. D. Vol. 4, Part II, 11th August 1950, pp. 856-62. Shri Sidhva (Madhya Pradesh): First of all I take strong exception to the issue of an ordinance when the House was sitting in the month of March. Dr. Ambedkar: The ordinance was issued some time in May. Clause 2 * Dr. Ambedkar: I wish that the points that were raised by my hon. Friend Mr. Sidhva and Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava had been reserved by them to the time when their amendments were taken up. It becomes somewhat embarrassing to reply on matters which would, I have no doubt, be raised again when their amendments are moved. But, I cannot help now having to reply to the points raised by them; I shall do so rather briefly, because I know I shall have to say .... Mr. Speaker: I do not propose to allow any arguments on the amendments. Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : I am not going to move my amendment if my hon. friend does not accept it. Dr. Ambedkar : Mr Sidhva has raised one or two points. The last point raised was why an Ordinance was made when the House was in session. The answer to that is two fold. The first is this. The first request that was made to the Government of India in the matter of extension of time for the preparation of the register came from the Government of Madras, and that too on or above the 15th of March 1950. That means that only 13 days had been left for the period for the preparation of the roll to expire. That is one reason. The second reason is that after the receipt of this letter from the Government of Madras, informing the Government of India that it was not possible for them to complete the Register, naturally it was necessary for the Government of India to find out from other States as to whether they were in a position to prepare their list by the date fixed, or whether they too wanted some extension. Naturally, there ensued